Here's everything you need to know about TanaCon, the YouTube convention that crashed and burned almost immediately

Have you seen the word TanaCon floating around the internet lately? Have you thought, “What is this convention, and why is it getting so much attention — and also backlash?” Well, dear reader, take a seat and settle in for the tale of the best-worst YouTube convention that ever was, and ever will be. And also now includes some insane conspiracy theories, because this is the ‘Con story that will not end.

Long story short: YouTuber Tana Mongeau found herself banned from VidCon for a few reasons, mostly for the fact that she was not deemed a “major influencer” and was thus not granted access to pathways free from attendees, which made navigating the floor extra hard (and led her to being swarmed by fans). She attended anyway, her presence was deemed a security hazard since security couldn’t control the fans, and instead of letting VidCon keep her down, she decided to start her own con: TanaCon.

TanaCon as held the same weekend as VidCon, and even located nearby at the Anaheim Marriott Suites. Mongeau promised her attendees that they’d get up close and personal with “creators” (aka, YouTube personalities and influencers) and would also get a swag bag that was supposed to be expensive and swanky.

While this appeared to be a convention with good intentions, it quickly descended into SHEER AND UTTER CHAOS. Once again, long story short: According to Mongeau over “20,000” people showed up and they didn’t have enough space at the Marriot to hold everyone. Attendees waited outside for hours to get into the venue, and once inside discovered that it was nothing more than one long hallway and a overcrowded ballroom. They got no up close and personal time with anyone, except for security who supposedly started forcibly removing attendees after they hit capacity.

And those are the people in the building, many more remained stranded outside in the hot sun with no food or water. Also, that gift bag? According to those who received one, it contained stickers and condoms and that was it. Not swanky at all.

I wasted 150 dollars on #tanacon , it’s one hallway, one big concert room, and no activities. No creators are walking around like promised. We stood outside for 4 hours, just to be treated like animals. pic.twitter.com/WlgiSvHqFs

The convention ended up being shut down, with Mongeau saying that they had decided to switch venues to a bigger location that could hold more people. That didn’t pan out. TanaCon was canceled — and refunds were NOT mad for those who had shelled out money for it, let alone paid to travel to the destination and found themselves standing out in the California sun for hours on end.

Okay, got that? You’d think that this story would be done, and you would be WRONG. Because YouTuber Shane Dawson has now released a three-part mini documentary about it, and omg. OMG. This honestly has more drama and twists and turns than a season of the Bachelor where we hate the Bachelor (talking about Arie, of course).

It’s not fair to spoil what goes down in the documentary, but if Netflix is looking for their next True Crime Hero (or even someone to help with American Vandal Season 2), it should be Shane Dawson. You can watch Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of his videos right here, and also maybe do not go to TanaCon next year…if it ever happens again. Which, spoiler alert, it probably won’t.

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